The Archers Thread September 2015 - The One Where Helen Kicks Rob In The Balls?

[PseudoBadger]

Wishful thinking. I think she's in it for the long haul

I was just going to post that!
Was it a test? To see if he would stick his oar in and try to change her mind. Like we know he always does. Has she finally seen the light?

Just caught up now!!
Rob... Stock list.? I think it's just more evidence on how Helen is becoming more reliant on him and proof of what a manipulative bar steward he is!!!!

BOOP Point - "handcrafted artisan bread" was mentioned tonight

At the ET festival, possible questions so far:
Is ruth being written out?
Why isn't Peep being written out?

Did someone mention RAnin Dead Ringers? I went to the recording, bloody brilliant!
Yes, I am a BBC/R4 fogey

What is a BOOP point??

There's a pattern - I knew tonight Rob would come over reasonable - he always does when there are episodes of him showing his true colours. So H is ok now? I am not sure it signifies much - could it just be clunky writing?

The bed wetting is going to be attributed to starting school but didn't he have a spell of that when he was getting into trouble at nursery for hitting other children? That was resolved suspiciously easily, to my mind.
My guess is that he is behaving like a mini-knob and the other children are reacting.
I've long held the theory that Rob feels he was bullied at school and I suspect his treatment of Jim is a subconscious act of revenge on a former schoolmaster of his. He is never as blatantly hostile to anyone as he is to Jim.

BOOP is an abbreviation of regular poster Bitoutofpractice who once complained we were all moaning too much! In response posters now BOOP things they like in the programme to redress the balance.

peppansalt We are a bunch of grumpy old women and often give vent to our grumpiness. We are gently chided by BitOutOfPractice (BOOP) for being so miserable and she reminds us to look out for the upsides - which are called BOOP points in her honour.

I don't mean Jim was Rob's former teacher but I think he triggers memories of punishment which Rob has buried.

Sorry: a bunch of grumpy old women and DadDadDad. He is our resident statistical expert.

enochroot, that's a very astute observation. When Jim first came to Ambridge, much was made of the very strained relationship between Alistair and Jim and it did sound as if Jim had not been very kind to Alistair when he was growing up. He certainly didn't seem to think much of Shula at first*, which if I recall correctly she put down to intellectual snobbery.

*Yes, I know - who can blame him for that?

Jim is certainly an irritating pedant and probably not good at close relationships but that's not enough to justify Rob having a vicious rant at him on two occasions.
We reckon Rob's not successful at anything. He was probably a non-intellectual pupil at his public school and possibly ridiculed for it. He wouldn't forgive anyone who did that.

R4 - Well, I wouldn't say you're all old, but I am rather fond of statistics. One link to prove both points:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/2233904-How-old-are-Archers-listeners

And I am really the only man who posts here? Come on lurking men - reveal yourselves!

So. It's finally happened.

I've been called a Grumpy Old Woman.

Wonder if I should learn to embrace it?

Dad I'm assuming Robert Tichener is a man though I think he spends most of his time lurking

I think I'm an occasionally mildly grumpy but mostly cheerful middle-aged woman, Gruach! This doesn't quite trip off the tongue in the same way, though.

Gruach.

Ref. Dave I reckon he was\is stressed and worried about everything, not deliberately being mean to Ruth. He did say for her to bring anything she wanted back to BF didn't he?

I think Helen was asking his advice as part of an appeasement towards him, she wants him to think she is still in awe of him and wants his input so he can't criticise things later. She was pretty firm about not having vitamins!

Bedwetting definitely related to Rob.

Why was Jolene being so cloak and dagger about the message to David?

Agree Wips But I reckon she was appeasing him because Tom ACTUALLY TALKED ACROSS HIM. OMG AND because he had been making teas and shopping etc. DOING WOMEN'S WORK .

She's frightened of him. Notice that J'lene rubbed it in too.

I think she's forgotten how to think for herself. And if that shop doesn't end up stocking jars of Seeds of Change pasta sauce and vitamin supplements, I'll eat my hat.

I wouldn't be surprised if Rob deliberately careered into J'lene so that she would see his bag full of New Man chicken breasts and be impressed.

I wonder if Henry's bed-wetting is related to who tucks him in at night?

Appeasing him for all those reasons and because her meeting with Tom was her excuse for not hopping back into bed with him after the school run which was why he was in such a snippy mood when he stalked off to the shop. He didn't like J'lene referring to him as a new man because that probably smacked far too much of the likes of Adam or Ian, but lost no time in using the situation to portray himself as an all round good egg in J'lene's eyes. Brilliant dramatic irony since who wouldn't rather have Kenton's childish sulks and general incompetence than the nightmare which is being married to Knob. The characterisation and acting of Knob is really excellent since we can deduce so much from relatively little so huge BOOPs for him (making up for general grumpy emotion to most of Brookfield Archers these days.)

I couldn't agree more about the characterisation and acting of the Hell/Rob SL, Lillian. It's endlessly fascinating.

I think we might be getting hints about Rob's childhood from how Henry reacts from now on, particularly if a sibling appears, and I think we all agree that there's much more to be learned about his relationship with his parents. He seems to have been a disappointment to them and unfavourably compared with his brother.